Drag is among the most popular names in the customer support software space today. The reason it deserves your consideration is that this all-in-one platform works as an extension to your existing Gmail account. So, you do not need to toggle between the tools and run your entire workflow within the Gmail ecosystem.
Drag’s shared inboxes feature Trello-style Kanban boards with task cards for effective monitoring of customer conversations. You can drag and drop these cards from one column to another and customize them accordingly.
While Drag is an exceptional customer service software, it has some limitations.
To start with, Drag works only on top of Gmail. Hence, if your support team does not use Gmail, you will have to look for other options.
The fact that Drag does not offer voice, social media, WhatsApp, and telephony support is a deal-breaker for businesses that serve customers via multiple channels. Also, you cannot build a knowledge base – a fantastic self-service feature – for your customers.
While Drag organizes customer conversations in visually appealing Kanban boards, opening one such board with several task cards slows down operations. As such, support agents get easily frustrated, especially during peak hours.
You cannot import Gmail labels onto Drag’s platform. Instead, you will have to do the heavy-lifting of recreating all of them, which takes a lot of time.
Drag does not let you define service-level agreements (SLA) for your shared inbox. This results in missed conversations, slow response rates, and, eventually, poor customer experience.
Even if you subscribe to Drag’s highest plan (US$20/user/month), you will miss out on essential support functionalities, including a help center, website chat widget, and SMS inbox.
These are users’ reactions after using Drag:
Fortunately, this article discusses the ten best DragApp alternative platforms offering similar and better functionalities.
Helpwise, the customer support software is a the #1 DragApp alternative that offers a shared inboxes to handle customer conversations via email, live chat, voice & SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter.
It offers all the power of conventional support tools, including assignments, internal notes, and workflow rules, and combines them with a neat easy-to-use interface for smooth collaboration. Plus, it syncs old conversations from Outlook and Gmail.
What makes Helpwise an excellent DragApp alternative is its AI and productivity capabilities.
The AI-powered features foster productivity and its analytics dashboard displays critical insights into your agent performance, including first response times, average response times, and customer satisfaction (CSAT) scores.
The chatbot addresses routine customer queries, freeing your agents for more complex tasks. What is more, this chatbot can serve your customers even beyond business hours. The SLA and rules ensure the queries are handles in a quick manner.
Furthermore, Helpwise keeps customer-centricity at the center; it aims to deliver the most value without overwhelming users with lots of customizations. You can also create help-center to enable self serve option for your customers.
Pricing
Standard: US$15/user/month
Premium: US$25/user/month
Advanced: US$50/user/month
Enterprise: Custom quote on request
Touted as the world’s first customer service platform built for Google Workspace, Hiver optimizes a single tool for fast, effective support instead of trying to do everything. It offers a Gmail-like UI, which most support agents are familiar with.
Key features of this DragApp alternative include automations to route customer conversations to the right agent based on preset conditions. You can seamlessly have quick, contextual discussions with your support team using Email Notes attached right next to conversation threads.
However, the bad news is that since Hiver is a Gmail-only platform, you will have to seek other options if you do not have a Gmail account.
Hiver automatically assigns customers’ responses to the support agent who initially addressed them. But if that agent is unavailable at the moment, it does not re-assign those conversations to the next available agents. Instead, you have to do that hard work.
Furthermore, Hiver’s basic plan does not have vital features, such as an AI chatbot, auto-assignment, and voice channel. You will need to upgrade to higher tiers to unlock them, which can be expensive, especially if you are an emerging brand.
Pricing
Lite: ~US$15/user/month
Pro: ~US$39/user/month
Elite: ~US$59/user/month
Sortd is a customer service solution built for Google Workspace users. It is basically a Gmail add-on that turns your inbox into various lists such as “Follow-Ups,” “To-Do,” or “Party RSVPs.”
You can organize all customer conversations into task cards on Kanban boards and assign them to each support agent. That way, everyone on your team remains in the loop. You can also add notes on the task cards to contextualize actions and help agents understand better.
However, integration between boards lacks flow. You can move cards from one board to another, but they cannot be simultaneously placed on multiple boards.
One of the users reported “the need to reload the inbox when switching between the Sortd pane and Gmail.”
You cannot find essential collaboration tools in Sortd’s plans, including collision detection, notes & tags, and shared email drafts.
Lastly, most advanced automations and integrations are available in the topmost plan – unlimited boards, Zapier integrations, and automations with custom fields.
Pricing
Essentials: US$10/user/month
Business: US$15/user/month
Gmelius is a comprehensive customer service platform that helps support agents manage conversations, improve collaboration, and help managers to effectively distribute workload – all within the Gmail ecosystem.
You can organize your shared inboxes using Kanban boards, converting conversations into task cards, adding subtasks, and setting priorities and due dates. Further, Gmelius automates everyday operations using “if this-then that” rules. You can automatically assign customer conversations based on agent bandwidth, send autoreplies, apply SLA policies, and add tags/labels.
However, understanding Gmelius’ workspace setup is tricky. One user had to “to host a meeting to explain its function to non-tech users.”
The task cards lack a few features, including uploading files on these tasks, adding notes to them, and merging cards when not needed. Plus, you can find moving multiple cards simultaneously in the Kanban board challenging.
Further, Gmelius offers limited real-time visibility into customer conversations. It will not update a conversation as “open” or “close” in real-time, meaning that an agent could be reading a conversation that some other agent just closed at that moment.
Pricing
Flex: US$15/user/month
Growth: US$29/user/month
Pro: US$45/user/month
Helpmonks is a customer service platform where all customer conversations are available to search, handle, and collaborate from a central location. This enhances visibility into support teams. You can deploy the platform in three configurations – shared hosting, enterprise hosting, and reseller (white-label).
With built-in customer management tools, Helpmonks lets you closely monitor customers’ queries and SLAs. You can check how many conversations are awaiting responses, prioritize those that demand immediate attention, and store the critical ones for future references.
Helpmonks’ UI has irritated users, with one complaining, “At times some of the menus don’t load correctly.” Another user has found it “hard to find emails that you had worked on before.”
Some essential features like SMS/WhatsApp integration, Teams/Workgroups, and In-app Messages are locked beyond higher price tiers. Plus, you will find a steep price rise as you upgrade to upper-end plans.
Pricing (for shared hosting)
Light: US$29/month
Starter: US$119/month
Bliss: US$299/month
Further: US$599/month
LiveAgent is another powerful DragApp alternative that lets you engage with customers on the channels they love – email, chat, calls, and social media. Moreover, it offers an installable on-premise version for organizations with stringent security protocols – rare in a cloud-enabled software world.
LiveAgent offers one of the most industry-grade live chat tools. Agents can easily create canned responses to accelerate customer service, and send basic post-conversation CSAT surveys to monitor the support quality.
LiveAgent’s intelligent automation rules optimize your workflow and boost agent efficiency. The platform, for instance, auto-assigns customer conversations to appropriate support agents, thus reducing response times.
However, LiveAgent lacks sophisticated reporting tools and customizable dashboards to let you dig deeper into your service performance and make data-driven decisions.
You cannot choose multiple predefined responses for a conversation. If you do so, the platform erases the first selection.
One of the users “needed to be able to attach help articles (from our knowledge base) to chats quickly and LiveAgent does not have this feature.”
Further, you need to pay additionally (US$39/month) to serve customers via social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Pricing
Small: US$15/user/month
Medium: US$35/user/month
Large: US$59/user/month
Enterprise: US$69/user/month
Kayako is a customer service software that can be installed on-site behind your organization’s firewall or accessed from the cloud. It lets you offer support in multiple languages across numerous channels, including email, live chat, Twitter, and Facebook.
Automation plays a significant role in the Kayako experience. You can define business rules based on conditions and time settings to streamline customer service and save time with preset responses to FAQs.
Moreover, the analytics dashboard offers insights into how your agents are performing. These include CSAT scores, conversations completed, and average first response time.
However, users have faced issues while building custom reports. You have to struggle a bit to find or define a particular report. Some users have complained that “ticket notifications are not prompt” and sometimes not delivered.
Further, Kayako’s sudden price hike has annoyed some of its users, compelling them to turn to its competitors.
Pricing
Kayako Cloud: Request a demo
Classic On-prem: Request a demo
Packed with robust functionalities, this DragApp alternative is built to grow as businesses grow. Help Scout’s flagship feature – shared inboxes – lets you assign, monitor, and collaborate with your agents on customer conversations.
You can build a searchable knowledge base of answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ) and add them to responses in a few clicks. The tagging feature lets your agents categorize customer conversations, create in-depth reports, and automate workflows.
Besides, Help Scout’s Traffic Cop tool is a huge hit among users, as it notifies support agents in real time when others are opening a particular conversation.
However, Help Scout does not have native phone and WhatsApp support. Its integration with Facebook Messenger is locked in higher-tier plans. Moreover, it does not let you set up SLAs directly – instead, you have to bank on its integration with Super SLA.
The absence of round robins complicates assigning conversations to support agents. With these limited features and integrations, Help Scout’s pricing model drives away businesses with tight budgets.
Pricing
Standard: US$25/user/month
Plus: US$50/user/month
Pro: US$65/user/month (billed annually only)
Missive is a customer service solution that brings all customer-facing conversations – SMS, WhatsApp, email, and live chat – under a single roof. Its in-built chat rooms let you have 1:1 discussions with your support team or anybody across the board.
What makes Missive a great DragApp alternative is its workload balancing feature. It distributes workloads using four methods:
However, Missive has some obvious shortcomings when it comes to customer support. For instance, its basic plan retains only six months of message history and lacks essential functionalities such as third-party integrations and rule-based automation.
Various negative reviews surround Missive’s limited integrations; the platform does not blend in with popular tools like Slack, Jira, and Calendly.
Pricing
Starter: US$14/user/month
Productive: US$18/user/month
Business: US$26/user/month
Spike is a customer support platform that turns customer conversations into a chat-like interface. It groups conversations by the agent you are talking to instead of the thread.
Spike smartly sorts crucial customer conversations to the top of your inbox so you do not miss any of them. Meanwhile, it sends less urgent conversations to the “Other” folder without cluttering your primary inbox.
Besides, you can schedule emails for your support staff residing in multiple time zones. Just compose your email, pick a date and time, and schedule it.
However, Spike’s Calendar feature has some limitations. To start with, it does not offer a calendar view. Moreover, you cannot add video call links to an invite directly like in Google Calendar.
Besides, navigating the UI is challenging, especially for new users. According to one user, “managing multiple accounts is sometime quite confusing due to complex User experience.”
Finally, while Spike offers some of the most affordable plans, you will soon outgrow it as you scale up.
Pricing
Team: US$8/user/month
Business+: US$12/user/month
| Platform | Key Features & Pros | Pricing | Cons | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Helpwise | Custom integrations Automation rules Advanced analytics | Paid plans starting at US$15/agent/month | Lack of desktop app | Businesses of all sizes looking for omnichannel support, AI-enabled features, and deep integrations |
| Hiver | Harvey AI bot SLA reports Autoresponder | Paid plans starting at US$13/agent/month | Works only on top of Gmail Does not re-assign conversations Basic plan lacks voice support, AI chatbot, and auto-assignment | Small-to-medium companies using only Google Workspace |
| Sortd for Gmail | Boards Automations Zapier integrations | Paid plans starting at US$10/user/month | Inefficient Kanban boards Lack of basic collaboration tools Advanced automations and integrations in the highest plan | Small-to-medium businesses seeking basic support functionalities |
| Gmelius | Automation rules Email sequences Notes & mentions | Paid plans starting at US$15/user/month | Task cards have limited features Steep learning curve Limited visibility into conversations | Small-to-medium organizations looking for Gmail-like UI with advanced features |
| Helpmonks | Knowledge base CSAT surveys Real-time analytics | Paid plans starting at US$29/month | Buggy interface No WhatsApp and in-app messaging Expensive upgradation | Medium-to-large companies seeking a platform with multiple configuration options |
| LiveAgent | IVR Custom ticket filters Performance report | Paid plans starting at US$15/agent/month | Limited reporting and customization Extra cost for social media channels | Companies with a strong focus on live chat-focused support |
| Kayako | @mentions Agent collision prevention Help center | Contact sales for custom quote | Unpredictive pricing Sluggish ticket notifications Issues while creating custom reports | Medium-to-large businesses looking for a secure platform with advanced functionalities |
| Help Scout | Beacon help widget Traffic cop Custom reports | Paid plans starting at US$25/month | No WhatsApp and phone support Cannot create SLAs directly No round-robin assignment | Organizations seeking software with advanced collaboration features |
| Missive | Analytics Canned responses Workload balancing | Paid plans starting at US$14/user/month | No integration with popular apps Essential features only in higher-tier plans | Small-to-medium companies seeking efficient workload distribution |
| Spike | Search history Voice messages Custom email templates | Paid plans starting at US$8/agent/month | Issues with the Calendar feature Limited feature set Complicated UI | Small businesses looking for a simple solution |
Of all the DragApp alternative options out there, these ten platforms enormous huge potential. That said, the final decision depends on your specific support-centric needs.
Sortd, Missive, and Spike are excellent budget-friendly options. LiveAgent is perfect if you primarily engage with customers via live chat. This, alongside Kayako. are a good bet if you want advanced feature sets, and the price does not concern you much. Hiver and Gmelius fit nicely into your requirements if you are already using Gmail.
But with Helpwise, you get to enjoy all these perks.
Helpwise is what happens when you take a feature-rich shared inbox, combine it with a knowledge base and omnichannel support, and throw in AI-enabled capabilities.
It is a versatile customer support platform that lets you effortlessly handle emails, live chat, calls, WhatsApp, and social media conversations all in a single place. Its easy-to-use UI features internal collaboration tools and automated workflows boost agent performance and strengthen customer relationships.
Round-robin assignments automatically distribute customer conversations among your support team. That way, each agent has an equal opportunity to resolve complex issues rather than sticking with simple cases.
Looking for AI-based capabilities? Helpwise has got you covered. Its AI-enabled tools let you fetch responses from Help Center and put it into responses, rephrase them when needed, and summarize customer conversations.
Interested? Unlock your 14-day free trial to uplift your support operations.
Some DragApp alternative apps include Helpwise, Help Scout, Hiver, and LiveAgent. All these tools aim to help businesses optimize their customer service and improve customer satisfaction.
Among these, Helpwise stands out as the most effective customer support platform, thanks to its extensive feature stack. With advanced functionalities, including a customizable knowledge base, AI-enabled automations, analytics, and omnichannel support, Helpwise has become a go-to platform for support teams.
When it comes to features, most Drag alternatives have hits and misses. Some platforms lack integration with social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), while some do not offer voice support.
Some tools lack advanced automation and analytics functionalities, while some have limited native and third-party integrations.
Even if some tools offer most (if not all) of these features, they will lock them in their higher-priced plans.
Fortunately, that is not the case with Helpwise. It offers essential support-centric features and deep integrations in its basic plan itself. Best, upgrading to its upper-tier plans will not cost you considerably.
While Missive, Spike, and Sortd offer free plans for small support teams, these DragApp alternative apps provide limited features in their no-cost subscriptions. As such, users cannot make informed decisions and turn to other options.
Helpwise, with its basic plan, offers dozens of features enough to take your customer service to new heights.
Most Drag alternatives sync with multiple email accounts. However, Helpwise does the same with greater ease, thanks to its collaboration features, such as centralized communication, query management, and workload balancing.
Helpwise, Hiver, Spike, and Gmelius are some Drag alternatives that have their mobile app versions. Users of all these tools, except Helpwise, have faced issues while managing conversations from the mobile apps.
On the contrary, Helpwise’s app version mimics its web version in terms of functionality and user-friendliness.
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